Evangeline Parish 4-H has it all!

4-H is a club that has been around since 1902. It began as an agricultural club that taught teens new techniques to bring home to the farm. In 2021 it is so much more than that.
4-H in Evangeline Parish begins its year with a huge celebration as part of the Cotton Festival. On October 20, members participated in the the Cotton-Pickin’ Pet Show, Cotton Festival Cookery Contest, and the Pumpkin Decorating contest, all held at the Civic Center. This way, there is something for everyone.
4-H members and their families dropped off their dish entry, their decorated pumpkin, and watched or participated in the Pet Show. It really was a fun afternoon.
All year long there are workshops and clinics set up for 4-H members to participate in and learn new skills. There are workshops like the Pancake, Electric, and Birdhouse workshops, where members can feel some independence while working hard to accomplish something new.
The Shooting Sports Club and Fishing Clinic give our sportsmen and women something to look forward to, and we have contests all year to involve members in art, science, and many other aspects involved in 4-H.
Our Livestock Program is still going strong and has a long history of cattle, swine, goats, and sheep being shown by our members across the state.
Two of our fastest growing animal areas are our Broilers and Horse programs. Broilers are a fun and inexpensive way for members to participate in the Livestock show. It is a growing contest where judges look for uniformity in size, weight, and form of the birds and serves all those members that have neither the space, money, nor time for a year-long animal project.
Evangeline Parish is very excited about the growth of our Horse Program. Through help from the LSU AgCenter Master Horse Program and teaming up with St. Landry and Avoyelles Parishes, we have been able to help to hold the Tri-parish Horse Show and allow many 4-H members to participate in this exciting opportunity. In our first year we had a member go all the way to Southern Region in Perry, Georgia, to compete!
We are just ramping up this year’s program with three new clinics being offered. October 30, November 13, and December 18. There will be basic riding, roping, horsemanship, and speed events clinics held at the Ag Arena in Opelousas.
In the spring, we hope to hold some here at the Chauncey Pitre Barn. Since this is such a new program for our parish, we are trying to get the word out and let everyone know that if they are interested in building their riding skills and learn more about horsemanship, please contact us for more information.
Whether you are interested in science, art, animals, or ATV’s, we have something for you! You can join 4-H all year long at the LSU AgCenter office at 230 Court Street in Ville Platte. If you follow us on Facebook and Instagram, you can see what is coming up and join in on the fun!
We also have a website www.lsuagcenter.com/evangeline, where all our information is posted monthly, including the Clover Patch, our newsletter, in-case you need an extra copy.
Please call our offices (337-363-5646) if we can answer any questions for you and let us know how we can help! Join 4-H today for a chance to belong to a great club!